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“I understand.” His words were gravelly, though, and I could feel his fury seeping through the bond.
Something about the anger he felt toward them made me feel more justified in my own. It made me feel kind of loved.
“In our world, you never would have suffered for choosing to protect yourself. In the unseelie packs, perhaps, but not here. Here, we are free.”
I bit my lip and nodded, those wild emotions in my chest only swelling higher.
The pressure of the serious conversation was starting to overwhelm me, though, and I began to feel a little trapped.
“Here we are.” Lian’s words had my gaze lifting off the dirt beneath my feet. Surprise raised my eyebrows as I took in the beauty in front of me.
Nestled between the rocks and trees was a lake with a thick, slow-flowing waterfall leading down into it. It was twice the size of Calian in his dragon form—so pretty damn big—but something about it looked cozy and comfortable. The water was a vibrant blue color that reminded me of a more muted version of some of the trees.
“Shit,” I murmured.
It was the kind of place that normal girls would pin pictures of on Pinterest for, of their dream vacations, and the kind of place that rich people would create those pins about.
It was fucking incredible.
“This is yours?” I looked at Calian.
“The land belongs to all of us.” He lifted a shoulder lightly, his lips curving up. “But no other fae walk onto this mountain without my permission. To do so would be a death sentence.”
“So yes, it’s yours.” I stared back at the lake. “Is the water warm?”
“Not on its own. But I think between our magic, the two of us can heat it fairly quickly.”
My lips curved up at that.
He was right; we couldn’t get cold without our fire turning itself on and warming us up. If we were in the water, it would do the same to the lake.
“It’s safe to swim in?” I checked.
To answer my question, Calian swept me up off my feet and threw me in. A scream escaped me as I fell into the water—and then I gasped and kicked upward as the icy lake engulfed me.
The fae grinned massively when I surfaced, as he strode into the water himself. He’d dropped his pants, which didn’t surprise me for a fucking second, considering how much I knew he didn’t like the fireproof clothing.
I tried not to stare at his erection.
Despite his nudity, I knew he wasn’t coming into the water to fuck me. If steamy shit happened, neither of us would protest, but that didn’t seem like the reason he’d brought me there.
He’d brought me there because it was beautiful, and because he wanted to share it with me.
“Bastard,” I yelled at him, even though the water was warming up around me already, and I was fighting a grin. My soaked hair stuck to my neck until the place it met the water, and from there, it flowed around me. It was its typical color, not having changed when my magical tattoos appeared.
And said tattoos glowed lightly under the water, catching my attention and widening my grin.
“You were thinking too seriously. The land insisted I take care of it,” Lian tossed back. He dove under the water, surfacing again only a few feet in front of me, grinning broadly. “I’ve missed having you to myself, Ari.”
Something about the way he used my old nickname made my grin widen. “You’ve missed having me naked in your arms, you mean.”
He chuckled. “That too.”
My eyes closed as the water around me warmed further. It felt was fucking blissful. “You never taught me to connect with my land magic,” I told him, opening my eyes a few moments later. The man was staring at me without an ounce of shame, his attention never wavering.
“Come over here and I will.”
Touché.
